Thursday, February 21, 2008

for tuesday feb 26

google “narrative maps” [images and text], to get a basic idea of how other people are making maps to tell stories. yours need not look at all like these. it's just to spur ideas.

plus bring in additional resources on stories, visual stories, narratives, community art/design, etc, to share. any new sources you can scrape up that can expand our ideas of what we could do with our work.

AND make a story / map thing that documents your experiences so far. cassie and morgan have made contact with people! yay! it can take whatever form you want, but it should communicate your experiences, triumphs, failures, attempts, conversations, whatever has happened so far. you need to start making and responding to this experience.

finally, we'll watch the movie "fast, cheap, and out of control" in class. it weaves together some great stories. lots to do tuesday. i look forward to it.

tyler

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

for thursday feb 14

make sure you've read the following:
empathic design
what kind of research model is empathic design?
"america starts here" on my reserve shelf in the library. skim through and read about a few projects.
when i say to make sure you've read things, that usually means there is some accountability to be had on your end, so beware.

also be ready to make a visual presentation on the community you intend to engage. there is a small possibility of a surprise guest, so make sure you're well prepared for this as well.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

defining community

let's collect some thoughts on what constitutes a community. to get us started, i'll throw out a few definitions, as i'm prone to do. first from the ol' dashboard dictionary:

1. a group of people living together in one place, esp. one practicing common ownership. the people of a district or country considered collectively, esp. in the context of social values and responsibilities; society.
2. a group of people having a religion, race, profession, or other particular characteristic in common.
3. a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
4. (ecology) a group of interdependent organisms of different species growing or living together in a specified habitat.

so, what can you add to that? what are the characteristics of a community as you see them? does your dept at kcai fit any of the definitions above? how is our notion of community different from that of our parents? when does a group cease to be called a community and is just acquaintences? let's hear it.